Dev Patel suffered broken bones on Monkey Man set

Dev Patel's 'Monkey Man' shoot was plagued by injuries.

The 'Slumdog Millionaire' made his directorial debut stepping behind the camera for the action thriller which he also starred in - and he's revealed he broke his hand during the first big action sequence and needed to undergo surgery while he also went on to break several toes and injure his shoulder and he was also struck down with an eye infection.

Speaking to Variety, Dev revealed: "I broke my hand in the first big action scene, broke some toes, tore a shoulder, eye infections, bruises ... "

When asked how he came down with the eye infection, Dev explained: "I was crawling on a bathroom floor and it’s flooding. We were shooting this scene for three days. All the crew were coming in with their dirty shoes and I’m drinking this water literally. It was grimy stuff."

Actor Sikandar Kher - who filmed several fight scenes with Dev - praised the actor/director for battling through the injuries but he was worried about hurting him when they were filming together.

He added: "I was like: 'Man, this is too much because you don’t want to hurt the guy anymore. It’s enough' But he mustered through it."

Dev went on to talk about the possibility of a 'Monkey Man' sequel if the film does well, insisting he doesn't want to think about it just yet.

He added to the outlet: "I’m trying not to get ahead of myself. I know this sounds like a cliche, but just to … birth this little thing, it’s been a huge undertaking. This is all a dream come true."

Dev previously credited moviemaker Jordan Peele with helping him secure a cinema release for the film after it was expected to go straight to streaming on Netflix.

He told Deadline.com: "He [Peele] took us from this thing that was brushed under the carpet to putting us on top of the mantel piece.

"He saw the film; Jordan saw me as a filmmaker, someone broken out, like what he did with his amazing comedy show and became this filmmaker.

"He understood the strength of using genre to talk about more interesting motif things, societal issues, using it as a trojan horse ...

"I haven’t seen someone such as myself expressed in this manner [on screen]. Normally we’re given the roles of comedic relief: The guy who opens that laptop and hacks the mainframe type of thing."

'Monkey Man' hits cinemas on April 5.